The present invention relates to beverage dispensers and in particular to such dispensers that include portion control.
A beverage dispensing system using flow meters, flow controllers, a microprocessor and portion control is known, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,487,333. One purpose of such a system is to automatically achieve the correct ratio of syrup to water in the dispensed beverage without having to make weekly mechanical adjustments of flow controls. Such a system can be used with a cup actuated lever arm to operate the dispensing valve or with portion control in which, for example, any one of a small, medium, large, or extra large button is pushed and a corresponding volume of beverage is automatically dispensed into the cup. Beverage dispensing valves are known using mechanical flow controls and portion control. The portion control includes an R-C timer circuit in which the settings drift over time due to changes in the values of the components, and these must be reset by a skilled service agent.